Chrome Won Browsers Security Competition

Chrome browser is the most resistant of hackers' attacks this year. At least that is the result of Pwn2Own, a competition that tests network security experts to penetrate the security system on 16-20 March in the CanSecWest Security Conference in Vancouver, Canada. 

In the competition this year, Charlie Miller who had been also the winner of the competition last year successfully broke the safari's security system within 10 seconds only. He who is also the security analyst at Independent Security Evaluators admits that he found the vulnerability in Safari since a year ago. 

Although through a fairly difficult process, the attacker can directly attack the security just by waiting for the computer users to click a link to a malicious url. In the competition, IE8 and Safari security system can be penetrated within 12 hours. 

While for Chrome, the participants are actually able to find a bug in the system security. However, the bug can not be exploited further because the browser has a Sandbox feature. Also, there is cooperation with the operating system to provide the best protection. 

Chrome's victory is quite surprising because the browser was newly launched in the second half of last year. Google Chrome's portfolio has been increasing after getting big impressions and recorded as the most downloaded software in 24 hours and immediately grabbed 1 percent of the market share. 

The competition this year is  divided into two-class technology, web browser and mobile phone. This competition is sponsored by TippingPoint, a network security company. Web browsers involved on the competition this year are Internet Explorer 8, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. While for the mobile phone are Blackberry, Android, iPhone, Nokia / Symbian, and Windows Mobile. 

Rewards offered are good enough, 5000 US dollars per bug in the web browser, and 10,000 US dollars per bug on the mobile phone. Participants can also bring home a laptop that is used to penetrate the security system for free, that is, the Sony Vaio or Macbook as long as the participant became the first person who can show you the bug. 

Participants were also required to sign an agreement, stating that they can not distribute a bug that they founnd. With this competition, it is expected that the web developer is able to know what bugs are in their web browsers and they immediately patch them.

YouTube For Mobile Launched

Google has made its users keep easier to enjoy YouTube video through their mobile phone screen, releasing specific YouTube application  for mobile phone handset.

Although some Symbian based mobile phone already supported flash, Google now provides YouTube application for almost all Symbian mobile and Windows mobile.

"We worked hard so that YouTube application can rech more devices and able to provide speed, quality, and good performance, said Google in its official blog, posted by Google Mobile Product Manager Andreas Tuerk, and Software Engineer Stephen Spence.

This new application is now compatible to some mobile phones based on Windows Mobile and Symbian 60 3rd edition like Nokia XpressMusic 5320, 5630, Nokia 6110 Navigator, 6120 Classic, E51, E71, E90, N81, N82, N85, or N95.

According to Google, YouTube application has the ability in searching, loading time, and faster access time, with sharper video quality and sclearer sound quality. 

Google also claims, this application has a sophisticated video buffering system so that it can still run even though the network connection is getting weak. 

Before Google provides this application, only a few mobile phones are able to play YouTube with the view that is adjusted with the mobile phone screen, such as the LG Viewty or the HTC Touch Diamond. Those YouTube-equipped mobile phones were designed by the vendor concerned. 

Now Windows Mobile and Symbian 60 3rd Edition users can complement their mobile phones with YouTube, downloading the application through the site m.youtube.com. 

"Once the application is installed, it no longer requires additional configurations outside of the application," Google said in a written notice. 

When installed in the mobile phone, YouTube will automatically display the video in horizontal or landscape format. In addition, the application can also adjust the best video quality, based on the ability of mobile phones and network conditions that are used by users.

IE 8 released today

Microsoft Corp. launches Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) web browser  today (03/19/2009). This application can be downloaded from the Microsoft site since 09.00 o'clock Pacific time. 

This new version of the most widely-used browser in the world is freely available for those using licensed Microsoft Operating System. IE8 was undergoing testing prior to public for beta version for a year. 

Microsoft, the largest software company in the world, says IE8 will run with Windows Vista, the latest Microsoft Operating System , Windows XP, which is also still widely used. 

As published by Reuters, based on the latest survey by an information technology consultant Janco Associates Inc., the Internet Explorer has the market share 72.2 percent, far above Firefox from Mozilla Foundation  with 17.2 percent. While Chrome from Google Inc. has the market 2.8 percent, and Safari owned by Apple is less than 1 percent. 

Microsoft recently is hit by antimonopoli policies in the United States and Europe due to bundling the browser with the operating system. 

Last month, Google joined with Mozilla and Opera protested against Microsoft dominance in the browser market. In January, European submitted formal charges against Microsoft on the bundle between Windows and Internet Explorer, which is used in 95 percent of personal computers. 

IE 8 accommodates the expectation of the developers with the presence of Developer Tools, which can be tailored to  Visual Studio 2008. Software developers will take more benefit of this feature when creating and debugging a web application. Other feature that attracts is a good and interesting Tab Grouping

April 1st, A New and More Dangerous Conficker Comes Out

Worm Conficker has spread so widely and  new more dangerous variants have come out. This was told by security experts, Ben Greenbaum,  Symantec's Senior Research Manager. 

  

"The Conficker  creator have strengthened the ability of it so that it can control the infected computers to connect to 50 thousand domains," said Geenbaum as quoted from CNet site. 

  

The new worm called Conficker C is able to block the security software, block omputers' connection from the security site, and download trojans. It is also programmed to start connecting to 50 thousand domains on April 1st, to receive updates or new programs. While the previous versions contact only 250 domains. 

  

Some large companies like Microsoft, Symantec, and others, have been trying to prevent the worm by locking the domains that have been used by the worm in distributing its updates. 

  

Conficker is first detected in November 2008, and believed to have infected more than 15 thousand computers. A new variant, Conficker B, has been detected since a month ago. This worm has the ability to spread via network and USB by the autorun function. 

  

Some victims were even military agencies of a country. This worm even caused an advanced fighter aircraft failed to take off. 

  

One of the domains which has been targeted by Conficker is Southwest airline. However, spokesperson of Southwest said as of now there are no signs of damage due to the malicious program. 

  

At the same time, security experts recommend that computer's users  update their patch and anti-virus software. Microsoft offered the prize of about US $250 thousand for any information leading to the perpetrator behind Conficker

Watch out of Kido

Kaspersky Lab detects a new modification of Kido, a.k.a conficker virus. This latest variant is different from the previous because it adds a Trojan function to the previous version of the dangerous program. 

Net-Worm.Win32.Kido.ip, Net-Worm.Win32.Kido.iq, and other variants are modified forms of Kido, which can prevent the antivirus products on the infected machine. 

Vitaly Kamluk, senior expert of the Kaspersky antivirus, said so far the new version of Kido does not indicate a spreading threat. "However, if the current version of Kido is replaced by the latest variant, it is very difficult to fight the maker of this dangerous program," he added. 

The Kido worm has a functionality of Trojan downnloader, meaning it sends a dangerous program to infect computers. The infection of Kido was first detected in November 2008.

Bill Gates Is Back To Be The World's Richest Man

Microsoft Corp. founder, Bill Gates, goes back into the world's richest man. Gates took over the position of the US investor, Warren Buffett, who last year got the position. 

Collectively, the riches of the world's top rated billionaires decreased, as cited Forbes magazine and Reuters, Wednesday (03/11/2009). 

Gates, last year occupied the third position with riches of US $58 billion,is now in the top position with the riches only US $40 billion. In the second position is Warren Buffett with the riches of US $37 billion. While in the previous year when occupying the top position, Buffett's riches reached US $62 billion. 

Telco conglomerate from Mexico, Carlos Slim, is in the third position with the riches of US $35 billion, down from the second position in the previous year with the riches of US $60 billion. 

Collectively, the three world's richest billionaire lost US $68 billion compared to last year as of February,13, 2009 when Forbes gathered data for preparing the list of richest people in the world which is released yearly. 

According to the Executive Director of Forbes magazine Steve Forbes, the decline of the billionaires' riches is not good for the world economy. 

"The billionaires are not worrying about their wealth. But if their wealth are getting lower and you do not create new billionaires, that means the whole world does not work correctly, " he said. 

The riches of the world's billionaires are down from US $4.4 trillion to US $2.4. While the number of them are down from 1125 to 793. 

"This is the first time since 2003 we lost billionaires. And we had never lost them as much as this," said Forbes senior editor, Luisa Kroll. 

New York City replaced Moscow as a home for billionaires with the number of 55 people. While the number of billionaires living in Russia has decreased from 87 to 32 people, a shocking decline.

Can Wolfram Alpha Kill Google?

Google's dominance in the segment of the search engine is not shaken yet even though the competitors continue to roll out. Now a scientist from the UK is trying his luck to bring a new search engine which is hope to conquera Google. 

Professor Stephen Wolfram, founder of software company, Wolfram Research Wolfram, creates a site named Wolfram Alpha which will be coming soon. Wolfram Alpha presents a new paradigm in online search. 

As Quoted from Vnunet, Tuesday (03/10/2009), search engines such as Google or Yahoo go through billions of web pages to find answers that approximately match the users' request. 

That is in contrast to Wolfram Alpha  that is able to exactly answer questions submitted by users. 

For example if the user asks the question 'Why is the sky blue? " or 'How many bones in the human body', Alpha Wolfram claims to ansewer  accurately. 

If there is no obstacle, Wolfram Alpha will be launched in May 2009. Can this search engine conquer Google, or otherwise collapse? Time will tell.

detikinet, wcn

Facebook's Spammers can be fined millions of dollars

Action of distributing spams in Facebook can finally be stopped, along with the seizure of three spammers who disrupted the comfort of Facebook members.

"They violated the rules by sending a message which is not important to every member in the Facebook wall. This action is categorized as fraud crimes throuh computer, antiphishing and policies on Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act or commonly called as CAN-SPAM , "said a legal counselor of Facebook, Sam O'Rourke , as cited by PC Magazine, on Tuesday (03/10/2009).

Spammers Vs Facebook battle pointed to three spammers that successfully penetrated to every member of Facebook accounts. They are Sanford Wallace, Shaw Arzoomanian, and Adam Scott.

The three men worked quite quickly. At first they sent an email to some members of Facebook that contained a site link. If the victim clicks on the link then automatically the spammers can control the personal accounts of the victims and will send an similar email to friends in their network.

Reportedly, the three spammers get dollars from each account infected. If found guilty, they will be fined millions of dollars, in accordance with the laws of CAN SPAM

Before the court held, the three spammers are prohibited to use their Facebook account and their account are also blocked. The court will take place on March 23.

okezone.com, wcn

US is The Largest Spam Origin

Almost 200 billion electronic messages each day are spams or "garbage messages." This number is equivalent to almost 90 percent of email all over the world. The United States become a country with the largest spam donating 17.2 percent. That is a report from Cisco in 2008, an internet network company. 

Meanwhile, other countries which are also the origin of spam are Turkey (9.2 percent), Russia (8 percent), Canada (4.7 percent), Brazil (4.1 percent), India (3.5 percent), Poland ( 3.4 percent), South Korea (3.3 percent) and Germany and the UK (each (2.9 percent). 

Patrick Peterson, Fellow and Cisco's Chief Security Researcher sees that the increasing number is in line with the findings of new ways to commit a crime over networks and the Internet. "Organizations can reduce the risk of spam by improving control access and patch possible vulnerabilities to remove opportunities for hackers to enter the network infrastructure. It can be done by upgrading applications, the endpoint system and network devices," said Patrick in the press news in Jakarta, Thursday (3/5/2009). 

Endpoint system is a protection on the end of devices, such as personal computers, flasdisk or  can be in the form of a mobile phone.

Computer Sales Is Predicted Down To A New Record

The computer industry will face a very big challenge in 2009 related to the global economic crisis. 

According to Gartner, a research bureau, 'only' as much as 257 million PC units will ship in 2009, which means it is the largest decline in history. 

For, it means a decrease of 11.9 percent compared to the year 2008. Compared to the previous largest decline occurred in 2001 that was only 3.2 percent, the figure is also 3 times larger. 

"The Slow GDP growth will weaken the demand," said George Shiffler, a Gartner research director as quoted by Vnunet Wednesday (4/3/3009). 

Even the popularity of the netbook, which is increasingly higher, will not help much. Netbook shipments are predicted soaring to 21 million units in 2009 from the previous 11.7 million in the year 2008. 

However, according to Gartner, it can not help stimulate the computer market conditions as a whole this year.

Netbooks are prey for cracker and Virus

For those who already bought netbook and like to surf in the internet world seems to be more careful. Netbooks have a weak defense against viruses, which continue to threaten.

Why netbooks become targets? The cheap price of netbooks make the producers give not-good-enough firewalls and antivirus softwares.  To create brands positioning anything is done to attract customers, including the lowest possible price with the expense of other factors. 

This insecurity is more experienced by those who love surfing in i=the internet where the internet is the main entrance for malicious programs. Unfortunately, many netbook's users turn off the security program for improving the speed and performance. 

Samson Hu, from the pioneer netbook ASUSTeK suggested, everyone should be alert to the issue of internet security when they are connected with any network. 

Netbooks, since launched in 2007, have been becoming something really sensational. The sales growth is increasing repidly, making almost all PC manufacturers, such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer and Lenovo have been attracted of 

producing netbooks.

Mobile Phone User Surge in Developing countries

Mobile Phone seems to be integral parts of society's life. From day to day the number of mobile phone users continues to increase. 

In fact, based on the UN report, six out of ten people in the world now have a mobile phone. This indicates that the mobile phone has become the choice for communication, especially in the developing countries. 

International Telecommunication Union until the end of the year said that it is estimated to have 4.1 billion subscribers around the world. Approximately 2/3 of the total mobile phone subscribers in the world is in developing countries. 

Not only the mobile phone users are incresing but also  internet users have doubled.